Frei ist, wer der Vernunft gehorcht.

Every cloud has a silver lining

Here at lastWe shall be free;the Almighty hath not builtHere for his envy, will not drive us hence:Here we may reign secure, and in my choiceTo reign is worth ambition though in Hell:Better to reign...

A grateful mind by owing owes not, but still pays, at once indebted and discharged; what burden then?

Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph that liv’st unseenWithin thy airy shellBy slow Meander’s margent green,And in the violet-imbroider’d valeWhere the love-lorn nightingaleNightly to thee her sad song mourneth well:Canst thou not tell me of a gentle...

Immortal amarant, a flower which onceIn paradise, fast by the tree of life,Began to bloom; but soon for man’s offenceTo heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,And...

Oh goodness infinite, goodness immense!That all this good of evil shall produce,And evil turn to good; more wonderfulThan that which by creation first brought forthLight out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,Whether I should...

Father, I do acknowledge and confessThat I this honor, I this pomp have broughtTo Dagon, and advanc’d his praises highamong the Heathen round; to God have broughtDishonor, obloquy, and op’d the mouthsOf Idolists, and Atheists[…]The...

Not so on Man; him through their malice fall’n,Father of Mercy and Grace, thou didst not doomSo strictly, but much more to pity incline:No sooner did thy dear and only SonPerceive thee purpos’d not to...

The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him,...

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames No light; but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe

For Man to tell how human life began is hard; for who himself beginning knew?

Henceforth an individual solace dear; Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim My other half: with that thy gentle hand Seisd mine, I yielded, and from that time see How beauty is...

What hath night to do with sleep?

Whose but his own? ingrate, he had of meeAll he could have; I made him just and right,Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.Such I created all th’ Ethereal PowersAnd Spirits, both them who...

how wearisomEternity so spent in worship paidTo whom we hate. Let us not then pursueBy force impossible, by leave obtain’d Unacceptable, though in Heav’n, our stateOf splendid vassalage, but rather seekOur own good from our...

Be strong, live happy and love, but first of allHim whom to love is to obey, and keepHis great command!

Our torments also may in length of timeBecome our Elements.

So spake the Seraph Abdiel faithful found,Among the faithless, faithful only hee;Among innumerable false, unmov’d,Unshak’n, unseduc’d, unterrifi’dHis Loyaltie he kept, his Love, his Zeale;Nor number, nor example with him wroughtTo swerve from truth, or change...

From morn to noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, a summer’s day; and with the setting sun dropped from the zenith like a falling star.

The goal of all learning is to repair the ruin of our first parents.

Yet not so strictly hath our Lord impos’d /Labor, as to debar when we need /Refreshment, whether food, or talk between,/ food of the mind, or this sweet intercourse/Of looks and smiles, for smiles from...

Should God create another Eve, and IAnother Rib afford, yet loss of theeWould never from my heart; no no, I feelThe Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh,Bone of my Bone thou art, and...

And of the sixth day yet remainedThere wanted yet the master work, the endOf all yet done: a creature who not prone And brute as other creatures but enduedWith sanctity of reason might erect His...

…So little knowsAny but God alone to value rightThe good before him but perverts best thingsTo worst abuse or to their meanest use.

One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams.

Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide: They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow,...

Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible except to God alone.

Freely we serveBecause we freely love, as in our willTo love or not; in this we stand or fall.

In those vernal seasons of the year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury and sullenness against Nature not to go out, and see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing...

Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep…

No man […] can be so stupid to deny that all men naturally were born free, being the image and resemblance of God himself.

Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.

Luck is the residue of design.

Is it true, O Christ in heaven, that the highest suffer the most?That the strongest wander furthest and most hopelessly are lost?That the mark of rank in nature is capacity for pain?That the anguish of...

But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt,And by thir vices brought to servitude,Than to love Bondage more than Liberty,Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty;

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..

Of four infernal rivers that disgorge/ Into the burning Lake their baleful streams;/Abhorred Styx the flood of deadly hate,/Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep;/Cocytus, nam’d of lamentation loud/ Heard on the rueful stream; fierce...

Thou art my father, thou my author, thou my being gav’st me; whom should I obey but thee, whom follow?

Farewell Hope, and with Hope farewell Fear

Where glowing embers through the roomTeach light to counterfeit a gloom…

And looks commercing with the skies,Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.

Solitude sometimes is best society.

Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.

Even the demons are encouraged when their chief is “not lost in loss itself.

They changed their minds, Flew off, and into strange vagaries fell.

Consult…/what reinforcement we may gain from hope,/If not, what resolution from despair.

Gratitude bestows reverence…..changing forever how we experience life and the world.

Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a vial...

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,Stol’n on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!